Conventional RC-based electrostatic discharge (ESD) power rail clamp circuits are often used in whole-chip ESD protection schemes in complementary metal oxide semiconductor integrated circuits, owing to their fast turn-on and superior ESD performance characteristics.
ESD power rail clamp circuits of this kind typically include one or more resistors and capacitors in an RC network for determining a time constant of the circuit. The components forming the RC network can occupy a significant amount of space in the integrated circuit.
Additionally, circuits of this kind typically use a large field effect transistor (big-FET) for shunting the ESD current to ground. This large field effect transistor typically may have a large standby leakage current and a large gate leakage of the capacitor.
Furthermore, circuits of this kind may be prone to latch-up failures during testing.